Musk accuses ADL of ‘trying to kill’ X, threatens lawsuit

Tech billionaire Elon Musk accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of “trying to kill” X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and threatened a lawsuit against the group, whose stated purpose is to fight antisemitism and hate speech. 

In a series of X posts Monday, Musk — the owner of the social media platform — accused the hate-speech watchdog group of “falsely accusing” him of being antisemitic, resulting in what he claimed was a decline in ad sales. 

“Since the acquisition, The @ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” Musk said in a post, adding, “Our US advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!”

“To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind,” he wrote in a separate post.

Several hours later, he took to X again to claim the company would file a defamation suit against the ADL.

“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!” Musk wrote.

The X owner said the lawsuit would accuse the ADL of “destroying half the value of the company,” which he valued at $22 billion.

“Based on what we’ve heard from advertisers, ADL seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss,” Musk claimed. “Giving them maximum benefit of the doubt, I don’t see any scenario where they’re responsible for less than 10% of the value destruction, so ~$4 billion.”

“Document discovery of all communications between The ADL and advertisers will tell the full story,” he added. 

The ADL published a report in late May documenting what it described as “inadequate” content moderation policies that miss “how hate builds over time through networks even when it is not explicitly coordinated.” The ADL Center for Technology & Society collected more than 5,000 examples from February 2023 of “virulent antisemitism” from accounts they tracked that were reinstated. 

Last week, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he met with Linda Yaccarino, the current X CEO, and they “had a very frank + productive conversation” about the platform, including on “what works and what doesn’t, and where it needs to go to address hate effectively on the platform.”

“I appreciated her reaching out and I’m hopeful the service will improve. @ADL will be vigilant and give her and @ElonMusk credit if the service gets better… and reserve the right to call them out until it does,” Greenblatt said in a post on X.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the ADL would not comment on the legal threats, as a matter of policy, but said the “ADL is unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organization.”

“This type of thing is nothing new,” the spokesperson said, adding, “This onslaught comes following our participation in the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington, where ADL proudly marched shoulder-to-shoulder with African-American leaders and those from other minority communities.”

“Such insidious efforts don’t daunt us,” they continued. “Instead, they drive us to be unflinching in our commitment to fight hate in all its forms and ensure the safety of Jewish communities and other marginalized groups.”